Article here. Excerpt:

'While the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of the Obamacare contraception mandate, the real goal of the provision appears to have very little to do with providing affordable birth control.

After combing through Obama administration documents in the Federal Register, National Center for Public Policy Research Chairwoman Amy Ridenour said the administration’s official justification for the policy is very different than the reasons often stated publicly.

“While the president went out in the East Room and gave a speech saying that the purpose of the HHS mandate is to help lower-income women afford birth control, in the HHS documents themselves, they talk about something else entirely and that is that the purpose of the mandate is to reduce economic and social disparities between men and women,” Ridenour said.

Link here. Excerpt:

'The recent burning and beheading of female victims in Thailand’s southern Muslim provinces marks a renewed campaign of terror by insurgent groups, according to a Human Rights Watch statement released today.

At least three Thai Buddhist women have been killed and mutilated by insurgents since February, according to HRW.

“Southern insurgents are killing Buddhist women and spreading terror by beheading and burning their bodies,” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said in the statement.
...
Male victims have been decapitated numerous times in the past, but this marked the first case in the past 10 years when a female victim was beheaded, said Sunai.
...
At least 5,488 people have been killed in the southern border provinces since the conflict intensified in January 2004.'

This Nivea Stress Protect ad being aired in Australia is demeaning to men.

I posted the following over there under "Male Positive Media":

"This is definitely not male positive media; it's demeaning and sexist toward men, as many other commenters have already pointed out. I'm going to post this over at Mensactivism.org so men know not to buy Nivea products, unless and until this ad is removed and Nivea starts to produce more positive media depictions of men."

Many other commenters at YouTube have had similar comments and Nivea's public relations YouTube account has been posting platitudes already, but at least they've noticed.

Link here. Excerpt:

'Consumers have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) and its pharmaceutical company subsidiary, SkinMedica, claiming that the companies have misbranded and unlawfully marketed Tissue Nutrient Solution (TNS), a skin-care product line containing human growth factors obtained from human foreskin tissue which could increase the risk of cancer and pose other health risks, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit, filed by consumer-rights law firm Hagens Berman in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, claims that for at least the past four years, SkinMedica has failed to disclose significant safety concerns associated with TNS products while marketing the products without appropriate government approval, proper labeling, or adequate safety studies.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A jilted doctor who paid a gang to chop off her fiance's penis has been jailed for six years, it has been reported.

Brazilian Myriam Priscilla Castro, 34, ordered the gruesome attack after her boyfriend, Wendel Souza, ended their relationship three days before their wedding.

Ms Castro, a respected doctor from a wealthy family in Juiz de Fora, southeast Brazil, is also believed to have paid for Mr Souza's house to be burned down and his car wrecked.

A court heard how three men, who claimed they were carrying out Ms Castro's orders, snatched Mr Souza the week after the planned wedding and used a knife to slice off his manhood.

Ms Castro's 76-year-old father is also accused of helping his daughter find and contract the men, who were all ex-convicts.'

In a MAJOR VICTORY for us, the Dept. Of Education has backed off their Affirmative Consent proposal.

The proposal (partners would be expected to give their explicit consent to sex every step along the way) is silly, yet potentially dangerous. We asked you to oppose it, and you did. Thank you.

Together, we made a difference. On April 2, the DED released its new proposal, and guess what is missing! That's right: Affirmative Consent.

Congratulations!

But we're not done yet.

Even though the committee didn't recommend including the "Dear Colleague" letter's preponderance of evidence standard as part of the rule, it's still a concern. Please ask DED Secretary Arne Duncan to replace the "preponderance of evidence" standard (51%) with "clear and convincing" (70-80%) level of proof.

Email Arne Duncan: arne.duncan-at-ed.gov

Thanks!

Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments
www.saveservices.org

P.S. If you live in California, contact your lawmakers to oppose SB 967. It's an Affirmative Consent bill!

Story here. Excerpt:

'Belfast Crown Court heard that Lisha Tait cried rape after being given the “cold shoulder” in a Belfast nightclub by a man she had a previous liaison with.

The 22-year-old, from Laurel Lodge in the Flush Gardens area of Lisburn, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The charge relates to making a false report and two false written statements to police on dates between July 6 and August 15, 2013 claiming she had been raped.

Crown prosecutor Simon Jenkins said the series of events began in the early hours of July 7 when police received a call from the Ambulance Service in relation to a distressed woman who claimed she had been raped outside the Odyssey complex in Belfast.

After making the claim, Tait was taken to the Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Antrim, where she was examined.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A trainee barrister falsely accused her boyfriend of raping her 11 times in an attempt to get out of taking her law exams, a court heard.

Rhiannon Brooker, 30, alleged Paul Fensome had repeatedly assaulted her, leading to the 46-year-old being arrested, charged and held in custody for 30 days.

But detectives could not find any evidence he had carried out the attacks. It emerged that Brooker had used the allegations as ‘extenuating circumstances’ in a failed attempt to dodge her bar exams, a jury was told.

She is accused of making 11 false claims of rape and nine of assault, two of which alleged false imprisonment.

Prosecutor David Bartlett told Bristol Crown Court: ‘One of the reasons for her false allegations was that she was living an active social life and not doing the work required to pass.’

Story here. Excerpt:

'COOKEVILLE — What turned out to be a false claim from a woman saying she had been raped, tied up and left lying in a ditch prompted the lock down of an area elementary school Thursday afternoon.

Police responded to the 1200 block of West Broad Street around 1:20 p.m. Thursday after a woman called in stating “that she had been raped and was lying in a ditch,” according to a report by Sgt. Jeff Johnson.

A woman was located, partially clothed, stating that “a male subject dressed in full camouflage with a black mask over his face had pulled her down the embankment, over a five-foot fence and raped her,” the report states.
...
Detectives investigating the incident determined that the woman’s story “did not appear to be possible due to her physical condition,” the police report states. The woman, police say, suffers from mental illness and they ultimately determined that the rape did not occur and that there was no further threat to the community.

Story here. Excerpt:

Welsh Labour says it wants half its candidates for winnable seats to be women at the 2017 council elections.

The aspiration could mean the introduction of all-women shortlists to select candidates in some places.

The party stressed it would not impose an all-women shortlist where a sitting male councillor wanted to stand again.

Labour members voted unanimously to aim to achieve the 50% target at the party's Welsh conference in Llandudno last weekend.

Labour said it was wrong to say male candidates would be deselected because there is no preferential treatment for sitting councillors when choosing local election candidates.

Before assembly and general elections, party members are asked whether they want to nominate the sitting AM or MP again.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last week someone asked me a thought-provoking question about the dwindling engagement of young men in our educational system: did I believe that there is a correlation between the rise of women's access to education and the alarming increase in drop-out rates amongst young men versus young women today? [1]

My initial reaction was as you might expect: moderately incensed. After waiting centuries for access to the "hallowed halls of education," girls are now being blamed for the boys running away? I caught myself however, mid-outrage, as the word "competition" popped to mind. At first I thought, "Well maybe the boys just can't compete with the girls?" Then my more mature self kicked in, and I had to wonder if today's schools are in fact simply more "competitive" for all students. If so, in what ways might such changes be particularly impactful for boys?
...
In considering these added competitive burdens we have placed upon our girls and not our boys, is it possible that, in fact, it is our boys we have been failing all along?

Article here. Excerpt:

At national, state and local levels, experts resoundingly agree: Boys are falling behind in education.

The statistics add shock value. Nationally, 70 percent of D's and F's on report cards are earned by boys. Three out of four children diagnosed with learning disabilities are boys, and boys account for 90 percent of school discipline problems. While graduation rates are on the rise in Florida, boys trail girls in every racial group.

"The concept of a one-size-fits-all education is an outdated idea, and today we see that," said Joyce Swarzman, headmaster at the Independent Day School-Corbett Campus in Tampa and one of the experts featured last week at the Pinellas Education Foundation's fourth annual education symposium.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Cultural progressives often talk about something called “hegemonic masculinity.” By this progressives and feminists mean the standards we use to determine what an ideal man is in a particular culture. Michael Kimmel and Amy Aronson, in The Gendered Society Reader, describe American hegemonic masculinity this way:

"In an important sense there is only one complete unblushing male in America: a young, married, white, urban, northern, heterosexual, Protestant, father, of college education, fully employed, of good complexion, weight, and height, and a recent record in sports . . . Any male who fails to qualify in any one of these ways is likely to view himself–during moments at least–as unworthy, incomplete and inferior."

Story here. Excerpt:

'Even as pressure mounts on political leaders for addressing women's issues more efficiently, men's rights activists too have decided to put forth their demands in front of the parties. Four issues these organizations have been fighting since long have been put up as questions to major politicians, asking for their response on any suitable medium.

The demands/queries are related to domestic violence against men, shared parenting, gender-neutral rape laws and men's welfare in general. NGO Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF), one of the NGOs working for men, has sought replies from several leaders including Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal, Jayalalitha, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Pawar. The leaders can respond using social networking platforms or media too. Apparently, Yadav has already shown allegiance to these organizations.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Pennsylvania woman claimed “crazy voices” told her to sit on her two children in a bathtub — drowning her 3-year-old son and leaving his 6-year-old brother critically injured, police said.
...
Schlemmer was arrested after she called 911 on Tuesday to report that she dragged the two unconscious boys — Luke, 3, and Daniel, 6 — out of the tub.

The deranged woman allegedly told Allegheny County investigators that she told the children to take off their pajamas and get into the bathtub after she put her 7-year-old son, who was not named, on a school bus about 8:40 a.m., court papers show.

“Schlemmer said after the boys got into the tub, she got into the tub ‘fully clothed’ and ‘crazy voices’ were telling her to push the boys into the water,” read a criminal complaint. “Schlemmer explained that at one point she [was] sitting on top of the boys while they were under the water in the tub.”